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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Vatican
City, 12 November 2013 (VIS) – A press conference was held in the
Holy See Press Office this morning to present the book “Il Dialogo
Interreligioso nell'Insegnamento Ufficiale della Chiesa Cattolica
(1963-2013)” (“Interreligious Dialogue in the Official Teaching
of the Catholic Church, (1963-2013)”). The speakers in the
conference were Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the
Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and Fr. Miguel Angel
Ayuso Guixot, M.C.C.J., secretary of the same dicastery, along with
Bishop Francesco Gioia, O.F.M. Cap., editor of the work.

The
aim of this third edition, which covers the papal magisterium from
the Vatican Council II until Benedict XVI, is to present directly to
both Catholics and followers of other religions the official thought
of the Church, following the spirit of “Nostra Aetate”, which
encourages the faithful, “through dialogue and collaboration with
the members of other religions, and bearing witness to Christian
faith and life, to recognise, safeguard and promote those spiritual
and moral goods, as well as the socio-cultural values they embody”.

“The
selection of the texts respects the competences of the Pontifical
Council for Interreligious Dialogue, omitting however on the one hand
the dialogue with Jews, which is the competence of the Commission for
Religious Relations with Jews, constituted within the Pontifical
Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and on the other, ecumenical
dialogue, or rather the aspect of relations with the other Churches
and ecclesial communities, which again falls within the scope of the
Council for Unity”, explained Cardinal Tauran.

The
book is fundamentally a collection of Council texts, encyclicals,
apostolic exhortations and addresses from John XXIII to Benedict XVI.
There are also some documents from the dicasteries of the Roman Curia
regarding interreligious dialogue. In total there are 909 documents,
consisting of 7 Council texts, 2 by John XXIII, 97 by Paul VI, 2 by
John Paul I, 591 by John Paul II, 188 by Benedict XVI, 15 from the
Roman Curia, 3 legislative texts, and 4 from the International
Theological Commission.

“The
advantage of a volume in book form, even if it is rather long at 2100
pages, is that of offering easy access to the method and theological
foundations of interreligious dialogue as taught and practised in the
Magisterium of the Catholic Church. The three indices - analytical,
geographical and general – allow the user to find most interesting
content in just a few minutes, and then perhaps to go and search for
the texts in electronic format on the internet”, added the
Cardinal.

“The
novelty of this book”, he said, “consists in the collection of
annotated texts by Benedict XVI … whose contribution was decisive.
In the seven years of his pontificate, we find 188 texts regarding
interreligious dialogue from Benedict XVI, compared to 591 from John
Paul II during more that a quarter of a century. Attention to this
theme has been constant, indeed growing, in each pontificate.
Benedict XVI proposed a 'dialogue of charity in truth'. A year after
the Regensburg address, 38 Muslim scholars, who subsequently
increased to 138 in number, wrote to the Pope in a document entitled
'A common word between us and you', explaining the principles of
Islam and expressing hope for mutual comprehension, and a
relationship between Islam and Christianity based on love for God and
neighbour, in accordance with the teachings of Jesus. The result of
this praiseworthy initiative was the creation of the
Islamic-Christian Forum, which continues to exist to this day”.

Cardinal
Tauran also mentioned that, like his predecessors, Benedict XVI
affirmed that religious freedom was a sacred and inalienable right,
and lost no opportunity to confirm this. “Convinced that to deny or
limit religious freedom in an arbitrary fashion means cultivating a
reductive vision of the human person and rendering impossible the
affirmation of an authentic and lasting peace for the whole human
family, the Pope identified in the process of worldwide
globalisation, still in process, a fortuitous occasion for promoting
relationships of universal brotherhood among men”.

Before
concluding, the president of the Pontifical Council praised the
patience and painstaking attention to detail of Bishop Francesco
Gioia, who along with various officials in the dicastery, edited this
and previous editions of the volume.

Fr.
Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot briefly listed the statements made by the
most recent Popes in their teachings on dialogue with followers of
other religions. For example, Paul VI, in his “Ecclesiam Suam”,
expressed his profound conviction that “The Church must enter into
dialogue with the world in which it lives. It has something to say, a
message to give, a communication to make”. John Paul I, in spite of
the brevity of his 33-day pontificate, followed the same path as his
predecessor, “calling all to collaborate in creating a bulwark,
within nations, against blind violence and to promote improvement in
the conditions of less fortunate populations”. John Paul II
developed the “culture of dialogue” and, following the dramatic
events of 11 September 2001 and their tragic consequences in the
Middle and Near East, proposed a decalogue for peace to the Heads of
State and representatives of the governments throughout the world. At
the beginning of Benedict XVI's pontificate and in the wake of John
Paul II, he stated that “the Church wants to continue building
bridges of friendship with the followers of all religions, in order
to seek the true good of every person and of society as a whole”.

“There
is still a long way to go”, he concluded, “but with Pope Francis
the dialogue of friendship continues. In just a few months, Pope
Francis has already held many meetings with representatives of other
religions, and has spoken widely on interreligious dialogue. … I
would also like to recall that this year the Pope himself signed the
annual message to the Muslim community to celebrate the end of
Ramadan”.

Vatican
City, 12 November 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father received in
audience the Metropolitan Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk,
president of the Department for External Church Affairs of the
Patriarchate of Moscow.